ly congregated.

It is true that these spirits, though choice, were hardly of what she
called Mr. Carrington's "class," but then in all her experience she had
never met a gentleman of such fashion and such a superior air, who
adapted himself so charmingly to any society. In fact, "charming" was
the very adjective for him, she decided.

About his own business he was perfectly frank. He had heard of the
sporting possibilities of the county and had come to look out for a bit
of fishing or shooting; preferably fishing, for it seemed he was an
enthusiastic angler. Of course, it was too late in the season for any
fishing this year, but he was looking ahead as he preferred to see
things for himself instead of trusting to an agent's description. He had
brought his gun just on the chance of getting a day somewhere, and his
club in case there happened to be a golf links. In short, he seemed
evidently to be a young man of means who lived for sport; and what other
question could one ask about such a satisfactory type of visitor?
Absolutely none, in Miss Peterkin's opinion.

As a matter of fact, she found very early in the evening, and continued
to find thereafter, that the most engaging feature of Mr. Carrington's
character was the interest he took in other people's business, so that
the conversation very quickly strayed away from his own concerns--and
remained away. It was not that he showed any undue curiosity; far from
it. He was simply so sympathetic and such a good listener and put
questions that showed he was following everything you said to him in a
way that really very few people did. And, moreover, in spite of his
engaging frankness, there was an indefinable air of discretion about him
that made one feel safe to tell him practically everything. She herself
told him the sad story of her brother in Australia (a tale which, as a
rule, she told only to her special intimates) before he had been in her
room half an hour.

But with the arrival of three or four choice spirits, the conversation
became more general, and it was naturally not long before it turned on
the greatest local sensation and mystery within the memory of man--the
Cromarty murder. Mr. Carrington's surprise was extreme when he realised
that he was actually in the county where the tragedy had occurred,
within a very few miles of the actual spot, in fact. Of course, he had
read about it in the papers, but only cursorily, it seemed, and he had
no idea he was com